■     ■'■;•;!  till  ij  i' I  lit  ;  'i  I  iiii|tl-''nn    ! '  I-  .    •  !'!'  ■;■•-.    ■       ■■:;•■.;'  i^-iii       '•' 

:i    Mil!  ■'^'i!*;  :;  I         III!  ,    '    ' 

■  '■M^\  III!     !  I  !' 


CB 
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Motti)  (Carolina 


'He  gave  back  as  rain  that  which  he 
received  as  mist' ' 


C.3 


UNIVERSITY  OF  N.C.  AT  CHAPEL  HILL 


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A/^       A    0£^/-i 


MEMORIAL  MEETING 
WALTER  HINES  PAGE 


WALTER    HINES    PAGE 

FROM  THE  PAINTING  BY   LAZLO  IN  THE  AMERICAN  EMBASSY,  LONDON 


MEMORIAL    MEETING 
WALTER    HINES    PAGE 


HELD  AT  THE  BRICK  PRESBYTERIAN 
CHURCH,  FIFTH  AVENUE  AND  THIRTY- 
SEVENTH  STREET,  NEW  YORK,  ON 
APRIL     THE     TWENTY-FIFTH,     I9I9 

ORDER  OF  EXERCISES 
TEXT    OF    ADDRESSES 


DOUBLEDAY,   PAGE  &  COiMPANY 

GARDEN  CITY        NEW  YORK         LONDON 
1920 


PREFACE 

The  Memorial  Meeting  was  held  in 
the  Brick  Presbyterian  Church  in  New 
York,  on  the  afternoon  of  April  25, 
1919,  at  four  o'clock.  Dr.  Edwin  A. 
Alderman,  President  of  the  University 
of  Virginia,  presided  and  introduced  the 
speakers  who  were  the  Earl  of  Reading, 
Ambassador  of  Great  Britain  to  the 
United  States,  Hon.  WiUiam  Gibbs 
McAdoo,  Ex-Secretary  of  the  Treasury, 
and  Dr.  L3nnan  Abbott,  Editor  of  The 
Outlook.  Their  addresses,  full  of  dis- 
cerning appreciation  of  Mr.  Page's 
character  and  dehvered  with  impressive 
simplicity,  were  listened  to  by  a  great 
company  of  Mr.  Page's  friends. 

These  appreciations,  as  well  as  the 
messages  read  at  the  meeting,  have  been 


Hi 

50 


VI 


PREFACE 


gathered  together  in  these  pages  by  the 
committee,  and  are  presented  to  Am- 
bassador Page's  friends  both  in  England 
and  America  as  a  keepsake  to  his  mem- 
ory. The  form  chosen  for  this  httle 
volimie  is  itself  a  memorial,  for  it  has 
been  made  identical  with  the  form  of 
"The  Rebuilding  of  Old  Common- 
wealths," the  book  into  which  Walter 
Hines  Page  poured  his  soul.  He  wrote 
in  one  of  its  pages:  "I  believe  in  the 
perpetual  regeneration  of  society,  in  the 
immortaHty  of  democracy,  and  in  growth 
everlasting." 

This  great  and  true  American,  as 
firm  in  his  simple  faith  in  democracy  as 
was  Lincoln,  lived  to  see  Germany  strike 
her  colors  on  November  ii,  1918,  and 
his  friends  are  glad  to  believe  that  as  a 
"Happy  Warrior"  he  went  forward,  to 
use  his  own  words,  to  "growth  everlast- 
ing.''     . 


ORDER  OF  EXERCISES 


PAGE 


The  Prayer 3 

By  Dr.  William  Pierson  Merrill 

Address -5 

By  Dr.  Edwin  A.  Alderman 

Message 21 

From  President  Wilson 

Message 22 

From  Secretary  Lansing 

Address 25 

By  Lord  Reading 

Address 36 

By  Hon.  William  G.  McAdoo 

Address 46 

By  Dr.  Lyman  Abbott 


MEMORIAL  MEETING 
WALTER  HINES  PAGE 


THE  PRAYER  BY  DR.  WILLIAM 
PIERSON  MERRILL 

DR.  .ALDERMAN  introduced  the 
Rev.  Dr.  William  P.  Merrill,pas- 
tor  of  the  Brick  Presbyterian 
Church  who  offered  the  following  prayer: 

Let  us  ask  the  blessing  of  God:  Oh,  God, 
our  father,  God  of  our  fathers  and  God 
of  all  humanity,  we  give  Thee  thanks 
for  Thy  servant  who,  serving  faithfully 
his  country  and  his  race,  truly  served 
Thee.  We  beseech  Thee  that  Thy 
presence  may  be  with  us,  meeting  here 
in  memory  of  this.  Thy  servant,  and  a 
servant  of  this  nation.  We  fervently 
and  humbly  pray  to  Thee  that  by  Thy 
grace,  working  in  the  hearts  of  men, 
Thou  wilt  preserve  and  strengthen  that 


4         MEMORIAL  MEETING 

feeKng  of  concord,  of  peace  and  good  will 
which  exists  between  the  two  countries 
which  this  man  served,  and  that  Thou 
wilt  grant  that  throughout  all  the  world 
there  may  be  extended  those  principles 
of  righteousness  and  of  justice  to  which 
he  devoted  so  much  of  the  strength  of 
his  life. 

Grant  Thou,  by  Thy  Spirit,  working 
upon  the  hearts  of  the  men  in  whose 
hands  are  the  great  destinies  of  this 
coming  time,  that  there  may  be  brought 
and  confirmed,  a  peace  that  shall  be 
established  upon  righteousness  and  faith 
and  truth,  in  order  that  Thy  Kingdom 
may  come  here  in  the  world,  and  Thy 
will  be  done  in  the  affairs  of  men. 
Amen. 


ADDRESS  OF  DR.  .\LDERMAN 

PRESIDENT  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  VIR- 
GINIA, AND  chair:man  of  the  memorial 

MEETING 

THE  praise  which  a  free  and 
thoughtful  people  feel  impelled 
to  bestow  upon  high  character 
and  good  deeds  is  one  way  the  race  hag 
of  uttering  its  own  eternal  aspirations, 
and  constitutes  a  sort  of  spiritual  food 
with  which  men  would  fain  nourish 
themselves.  ''Death  hath  this  also," 
said  Lord  Bacon,  ''that  it  openeth  the 
gate  to  good  fame,"  by  which  the  old 
wise  man  meant,  I  think,  that  when  any 
man  of  renown  passes  by  in  life,  and  es- 
pecially in  death,  a  certain  wave  of 
emotion  follows  along,  touching  ahke  the 
old  who  see  in  him  the  fulfiller  of  their 


6         MEMORIAL  MEETING 

dreams,  the  young,  the  inspirer  of  their 
dreams,  the  girl,  that  her  lover,  the 
mother  that  her  son,  may  become  such 
as  he.  Thus  it  is  that  a  company  of 
friends  is  here  to-day  to  speak  of  a  man 
whom  they  loved,  a  citizen  who  had 
faith  in  ideas  and  rare  power  to  see  and 
promote  the  lines  of  true  progress  in  his 
day,  and  a  pubHc  servant  who  served 
modestly  but  notably  and  well  the  in- 
terests of  his  country  and  of  mankind. 

I  could  not,  even  if  it  were  my  proper 
function  so  to  do,  speak  of  Walter 
Page  in  the  note  of  old-time  memorial 
statehness.  I  can  imagine  him  in  his 
bluff,  explosive  way  checking  me  and 
bidding  me  restrain  my  loquacity  and 
curb  my  oratorical  instincts.  But  cer- 
tain intimate  things  I  may,  with  pro- 
priety and  deep  love,  briefly  utter  before 
presenting  to  you  those  who  would  an- 
alvze  and  evaluate  his  career. 


WALTER  HINES  PAGE  7 

Walter  Page  and  I  were  brought  up  in 
the  same  old  Southern  state  of  North 
CaroHna,  and  essentially  in  the  same  era 
of  sacrifice  and  seriousness  which  swept 
over  a  land  smitten  by  war  and  revolu- 
tion and  grimly  struggling  back  into 
the  field  of  national  consciousness  and 
modern  democracy.  The  sense  of  social 
duty  lived  in  the  air  he  early  breathed 
and  caused  him  to  have  for  his  undi- 
vided country  and  for  the  section  whose 
strivings  and  tragedies  he  witnessed 
an  attachment  almost  romantic  in  its 
tenderness  and  brooding  concern. 

I  saw  him  for  the  first  time  thirty- 
nine  years  ago,  and  during  that  long 
period  I  have  known  and  loved  few  men 
better.  As  a  young  student  at  college, 
I  stumbled  into  a  meeting  of  teachers 
at  my  University  and  saw  standing  on  a 
platform  a  young  man  expounding  to 
them,  in  a  most  unconventional  way, 


8         MEMORIAL  MEETING 

the  dignity  and  beauty  of  the  discipUnes 
involved  in  the  study  of  the  Greek 
language  and  literature.  I  was  not 
deeply  moved  by  the  Greek  appeal, 
but  I  was  arrested  quickly  by  the  young 
editor  who  seemed  to  be  flouting  the 
oratorical  pomposities  current  at  the 
time  by  his  manner  and  dress  and  who 
seemed  charged  with  fierce  eagerness, 
defiant  optimism,  and  intellectual  con- 
fidence. 

I  saw  him  for  the  last  time  in  October, 
1 914,  standing  in  the  doorway  of  the  old 
American  Embassy,  on  Victoria  Street, 
in  London,  bidding  me  good-bye  and 
Godspeed  on  my  homeward  voyage. 
The  marks  of  care  and  toil  were  upon 
him,  but  also  of  proud,  steadfast  devo- 
tion and  purpose,  for  he  was  just  begin- 
ning the  duties  of  a  mission  destined  to 
be  historical  in  the  annals  of  American 
diplomacy  and  peculiarly  distinguished 


WALTER  HINES  PAGE         9 

in  the  story  of  Anglo-American  rela- 
tions. The  young  attorney  for  the 
Greek  disciphne,  of  the  late  'seventies, 
had  indeed  traveled  a  long  distance  be- 
tween the  cotton  fields  of  North  Caro- 
lina and  the  Court  of  St.  James's.  The 
journey  had  not  been  tempestuous  but 
steady  and  fonvard,  as  if  certain  con- 
stant trade  winds  of  energy  and  clear- 
thinking  and  forceful  writing  and  down- 
right purpose  had  driven  him  on.  There 
was  no  subtlety  or  cunning  or  mystery 
or  seK  delusion  about  Walter  Page. 
He  had  faith  in  his  profession  of  pub- 
licist, and  his  convictions  marched  on 
ahead  of  him,  and  he  shouted  out  the 
thing  he  was  after  and  the  methods  he 
meant  to  use.  He  was  a  big,  whole- 
some, human  being.  He  was  not  es- 
pecially logical;  in  fact,  he  resented 
the  logician  and  the  formal-minded  man. 
He    may    be    called    an    impressionist 


lo       MEMORIAL  MEETING 

whose  impressions  went  deep  and  whose 
eye  discerned  the  essence  of  things. 
There  were  certain  quahties  inherent 
in  his  character  about  which  one  may 
venture  to  use  that  most  dangerous 
form  of  phrase — the  superlative.  I  have 
never  known  a  more  persistent  and  in- 
teUigent  radical — ^in  the  best  sense  of 
that  incisive  word.  His  eyes  never 
beheld  anything,  whether  a  venerable 
human  institution,  a  manuscript,  a 
piece  of  social  organization,  or  a  me- 
chanical device,  that  he  did  not  ask  him- 
self these  questions :  ^^Can  this  thing  be 
made  better  than  it  is?  and  who  and 
where  is  the  man  to  tackle  the  job?  and 
how  soon  can  I  tie  the  job  and  the  man 
together? ' '  He  was  thus  upon  an  unend- 
ing quest  for  practical  excellence  and  a 
furious  crusader  against  vain  pretension. 
His  passion  was  to  build  or  rebuild  old 
commonwealths,  rural  life,  old  educa- 


WALTER  HINES  PAGE        ii 

tional  systems — whatever  it  was.  Until 
the  duties  of  the  world  war  overshad- 
owed all  things,  he  always  claimed  that 
the  most  satisfactory  and  important 
service  of  his  life  was  the  service  he 
rendered  upon  the  Southern  Education 
Board  and  the  General  Education  Board. 
I  have  never  known  a  more  perfect 
democrat  than  Walter  Page.  He  wasted 
no  time  in  defining  that  great  Hope, 
as  he  called  it.  The  conception  thrilled 
and  exalted  and  stimulated  and  guided 
him  as  religion  used  to  guide  its  devotees 
in  the  age  of  Faith.  He  had  thought 
the  thing  out  and  talked  it  out  and  or- 
dered it  into  a  creed.  "It^s  the  end  of 
the  year,"  he  wrote  me  at  Christmas 
in  191 2.  "  Mrs.  Page  and  I  (alone)  have 
been  talking  of  democracy.  I  do  pro- 
foundly hold  the  democratic  faith  and 
beUeve  that  it  can  be  worked  into  action 
among  men."     And  in  the  same  letter, 


12        MEMORIAL  ]\IEETING 

he  added:  ^^I  have  a  new  amusement,  a 
new  excitement,  a  new  study,  as  you 
have  and  as  we  all  have  who  really  be- 
lieve in  a  democracy — a  new  study,  a 
new  hope,  and  sometimes  a  new  fear; 
and  its  name  is  Wilson.  I  have  for 
many  years  regarded  myself  as  an 
interested,  but  always  a  somewhat  de- 
tached, outsider,  believing  that  the 
democratic  idea  was  real  and  safe  and 
lifting,  if  we  could  ever  get  it  put  into 
action,  contenting  myself  ever  with 
such  patches  of  it  as  time  and  accident 
and  occasion  now  and  then  sewed  on  our 
gilded  or  tattered  garments.  But  now 
it  is  come — the  real  thing;  at  any  rate 
a  man  whose  thought  and  aim  and 
dream  are  our  thought  and  aim  and 
dream.  That's  enormously  exciting!  I 
didn't  suppose  I'd  ever  become  so  in- 
terested in  a  general  proposition  or  in 
a  governmental  hope."    As  the  tragic 


WALTER  HINES  PAGE        13 

years  went  by  it  is  needless  to  say  that 
this  interest  and  hope,  whose  name  was 
Wilson,  grew  into  confidence  and  faith 
and  affection. 

I  have  known  no  man  of  wider  and 
tenderer  sympathies,  of  greater  joy  in 
praise  of  others,  and  greater  genius  in 
discovering  the  best  in  others.     There 
are  many  noble  men  in  America  who 
found  themselves  because  he  first  found 
them.     Wlien  his  Memoirs  come  to  be 
written,  I  prophesy  that  the  number  of 
the  letters  that  he  wrote  and  the  con- 
tacts that  he  maintained  with  all  sorts 
of   men   wiU   astonish   his   biographer. 
And   such   letters!  beautiful  in  hand- 
writing,   fresh    in    thought,    turbulent 
with  strident  common  sense  and  radiant 
hope  and  virile  humor.     If  he  shall  be 
not  adjudged  the  best  letter  writer  of 
his  generation,  I  shall  be  much  mis- 
taken.    About  the  time  of  his  appoint- 


14       MEMORIAL  MEETING 

ment  to  the  English  post,  a  certain 
menace  of  disease  condemned  me  to  in- 
activity in  the  great,  cold,  north  country 
of  New  York.  Week  by  week  beautiful 
letters  came  to  me  from  him — all  in  his 
engraved-like  handwriting.  They  were 
sent  primarily  to  beguile  my  sickness  and 
silence,  but  they  fairly  throbbed  with 
interest  and  bold  opinions  and  poetical 
insights  and  praise  of  friends  and  now 
and  then  Gargantuan  merriment  and 
laughter.  I  often  read  them  with  min- 
gled laughter  and  tears,  remembering 
the  motive  that  moved  the  busy  man, 
and  stirred  by  their  sense  and  substance. 
The  letters  didn't  cease  until  the  ship 
bearing  him  to  his  great  task  v/as  ap- 
proaching Liverpool.  Writing  in  De- 
cember, 191 2,  amidst  all  sorts  of  conceit 
and  mounting  enthusiasms,  I  find  these 
noble  sentences  spoken  to  strengthen 
a  lonely  man's  courage.     *'IVe  a  book 


WALTER  HINES  PAGE        15 

or  two  more  to  send  you.  If  they  in- 
terest you,  praise  the  gods.  If  they 
bore  you,  fling  'em  in  the  snow  and 
think  no  worse  of  me.  You  can't  tell 
what  a  given  book  may  be  worth  to  a 
given  man  in  an  unknown  mood.  They 
become  such  a  commodity  to  me  that  I 
thank  my  stars  for  a  month  away  from 
them  when  I  may  come  at  'em  at  a  dif- 
ferent angle  and  really  read  a  few  old 
ones — ^Wordsworth,  for  instance.  When 
you  get  old  enough,  you'll  wake  up  some 
day  with  the  feeling  that  the  world  is 
much  more  beautiful  than  it  was  when 
you  were  young,  that  a  landscape  has  a 
clearer  meaning,  that  the  sky  is  more 
companionable,  that  outdoor  color  and 
motion  are  more  splendidly  audacious 
and  beautifully  rhythmical  than  you 
had  ever  thought.  That's  true.  The 
gently  snow-clad  little  pines  out  my 
window  are  more  to  me  than  the  whole 


i6       MEMORIAL  MEETING 

Taft  Administration.  They'll  soon  be 
better  than  the  year's  dividends.  And 
the  few  great  craftsmen  in  words,  who 
can  confirm  this  feehng — they  are  the 
masters  you  become  grateful  for.  Then 
the  sordidness  of  the  world  lies  far  be- 
neath you  and  your  great  democracy 
is  truly  come — the  democracy  of  na- 
ture. To  be  akin  to  a  tree,  in  this  sense, 
is  as  good  as  to  be  akin  to  a  man.  I 
have  a  grove  of  little  long-leaf  pines 
down  in  the  old  country,  and  I  know 
they'U  have  some  consciousness  of  me 
after  all  men  have  forgotten  me:  I've 
saved  'em,  and  they'll  sing  a  century  of 
gratitude  if  I  can  keep  'em  saved." 

Intense,  dynamic,  practical  patriotism 
was  incarnated  in  Walter  Page.  There 
was  nothing  provincial  about  him  in  this 
manifestation,  for  his  mind  was  a  world 
mind  and  his  interests  cosmic  interests, 
though,  as  I  have  said,  he  brooded  over 


WALTER  HINES  PAGE        17 

the  region  that  gave  him  birth  like  a 
mother  over  her  children,  trpng  always 
to  aid  it  even  if  he  had  thereby  to  incur 
unpopularity  and  outspoken  criticism^. 

His  interest  in  the  Negro,  for  instance, 
was  keen  and  cathohc,  not  from  any 
romantic  emotionalism,  but  because  he 
saw  the  African  as  the  stage  where 
democracy  could  really  hope  to  play 
its  heroic  part,  if  it  were  freed  from  hin- 
dering obstacles.  He  saw  the  weak- 
nesses of  democracy  and  sought  to 
remedy  them,  not  by  turgid  eulogy, 
but  by  practical  efforts  to  abohsh  ignor- 
ance and  disease  and  to  promote  com- 
munity effort  and  social  organization. 

When  the  great  war  came  and  Page 
had  settled  down  to  a  world  task,  I  find  a 
soberer  note  in  forming  his  letters  to  me. 
The  old  flavor  of  daring  humor  and 
soaring  talk  dropped  out  of  his  style. 
He  saw  the  supreme  test  awaiting  him,  a 


1 8        MEMORIAL  MEETING 

test  which  had  faced  Frankhn  and  Jef- 
ferson and  Adams  in  other  days,  and 
which  no  one  of  them  compassed  more 
nobly  than  he.  He  must  become  the 
voice  of  the  New  World  cheering  for- 
ward the  Old  in  its  struggle  for  freedom. 
And  he  did  so  become.  He  saw,  too, 
his  beloved  Democracy  put  to  its  su- 
preme test — cross-examined  mercilessly 
by  all  the  forces  of  society  and  assailed 
by  a  colossal  foe.  There  was  no  waver- 
ing or  lack  of  brain  or  faith,  only  sober- 
ness and  girding  of  the  loins.  He  saw 
afresh  and  at  first  hand  the  greatness 
and  constancy  of  the  English  race  and 
beheld  anew  the  oneness  of  their  ideals 
with  our  own,  and  hence  the  essential 
unity  and  permanency  of  their  destiny 
with  the  destiny  of  his  country — and  so 
he  grew  in  power  as  an  interpreter  be- 
tween the  two  kindred  democracies 
struggling  for  existence  at  Armageddon. 


WALTER  MINES  PAGE       19 

I  had  dreamed  of  my  old  friend  com- 
ing home,  hearing  in  his  ears  the  acclaim 
of  his  friends  and  countrymen,  and  so 
living  to  old  age  accompanied  by  love 
and  honor  and  troops  of  friends. 
When  he  actually  came  home  broken  in 
body  to  die,  while  the  bells  of  victory 
were  everywhere  pealing,  my  heart 
was  bitter  at  what  seemed  the  savage 
cruelty  of  such  a  fate.  But  I  now  know 
that  my  emotion  was  the  natural  human 
reaction  to  loss  and  pain,  and  I  now  see 
the  grandeur  surrounding  the  end  of  this 
tired,  faithful  servant  of  the  state,  who 
had  fought  to  the  finish  and  won  the 
fight  in  a  crisis  of  the  world,  and  who 
must  have  had  acquaintance  with  the 
things  that  are  not  seen,  and  must  have 
heard  about  him  the  rustling  of  the 
pinions  of  victory  and  the  ''well  done"  of 
just  men  in  all  lands.  And  there  was 
infinite  beauty  and  fitness  in  carrying 


20       MEMORIAL  MEETING 

him  back  to  lie  under  ''the  long-leaf 
pines  down  in  the  old  country '^  where 
the  sands  are  white  and  the  air  clean. 
And  those  who  cared  for  him  rejoiced 
that  the  great  Ambassador  rests  among 
his  forbears,  amid  childhood  scenes, 
content,  I  dare  say,  on  some  mount  of 
faith,  to  know  that 

"  His  part,  in  all  the  pomp  that  fills 
The  circuit  of  the  summer  hills 
Is,  that  his  grave  is  green." 


PRESIDENT  WILSON'S  MESSAGE 

DOCTOR  ALDERMAN,  after  his 
own  address,  introduced  Mr. 
Herbert  S,  Houston,  Secretary 
of  the  Committee,  who  read  the  follow- 
ing messages  from  the  President  of  the 
United  States,  and  from  Secretary  of 
State  Lansing. 

**It  is  a  matter  of  sincere  regret  to 
me  that  I  cannot  be  present  to  add  my 
tribute  of  friendship  and  admiration 
for  Walter  Page.  He  crowned  a  life  of 
active  usefulness  by  rendering  his  coun- 
try a  service  of  unusual  distinction,  and 
deserves  to  be  held  in  the  affectionate 
memory  of  his  fellow  countrymen.  In  a 
time  of  exceeding  difficulty  he  acquitted 
himself  with  discretion,  unwavering 
fidelity  and  admirable  intelligence. 

''WooDRow  Wilson." 


21 


SECRETARY  LANSING'S 
MESSAGE 

THE  passing  of  Walter  Hines 
Page  from  the  world  in  which 
he  played  so  conspicuous  a  part 
was  an  event  casting  a  shadow  over  his 
country  in  the  very  hours  when  victory 
for  the  cause  to  which  he  had  devoted 
his  energies,  his  very  life,  was  assured. 
With  a  vision,  which  he  converted 
into  effort.  Doctor  Page  from  the  first 
perceived  the  meaning  of  the  war  and 
the  peril  to  those  fundamental  principles 
for  which  the  United  States  has  stood 
throughout  its  Hfe  as  a  nation.  EQs 
influence  was  ceaselessly  exerted  in  be- 
half of  the  cause  of  the  Allies  and  it  was 
largely  through  his  sympathetic  spirit 

22 


WALTER  HINES  PAGE       23 

and  through  the  confidence  and  good  will 
which  he  inspired  that  many  of  the 
vexatious  questions  between  the  United 
States  and  Great  Britain  were  removed 
and  the  peoples  of  the  two  countries 
were  united  in  common  thought  and 
common  purposes. 

The  patriotic  service  which  he  ren- 
dered in  the  critical  years  and  the  sacri- 
ficial impulse  with  which  he  gave  himself 
to  the  work  of  his  ofhce  makes  his  career 
as  an  ambassador  distinguished  and  his 
name  memorable  among  the  famous 
Americans  who  have  represented  their 
country  at  the  Court  of  St.  James's. 

It  is  with  mingled  feelings  of  sorrow 
and  admiration  that  I  am  privileged  to 
bear  witness  to  the  greatness  of  Doctor 
Page's  service,  to  his  loyal  devotion  to 
American  principles,  and  to  the  zeal  and 
earnestness  with  which  he  performed 
his  arduous  duties.     It  is  in  the  record 


24       MEMORIAL  MEETING 

of  such  a  life  that  Americans  find  their 
loftiest  ideals  translated  into  fact  and 
are  given  inspiration  to  serve  their 
country  to  the  very  end.  This  is  the 
lesson  we  should  learn  from  the  life  of 
Walter  Hines  Page,  a  great  diplomat, 
and  a  great  patriot. 

Robert  Lansing. 


LORD  READING'S  ADDRESS 

IORD  reading,  the  British  High 
Commissioner  and  Special  Am- 
bassador  to  the  United  States, 
was  introduced  by  Doctor  Alderman  in 
the  following  words : 

The  deepest  conviction  held  by  the 
late  Ambassador  from  the  United  States 
to  Great  Britain  was  the  conviction 
that  the  British  Empire  and  the  United 
States  of  America  should  know  each 
other  and  understand  each  other,  and 
as  kindred  peoples  act  together  for  the 
promotion  of  peace  and  justice  in  the 
world.  There  is,  therefore,  pecuhar  fit- 
ness and  graciousness  in  the  presence 
here  to-day  of  His  Excellency,  the  Earl 
of  Reading,  British  Ambassador  to  the 

25 


26       MEMORIAL  MEETING 

United  States,  who  on  this  side  of  the 
water  has  done  so  much  to  promote  this 
unity  and  to  reaUze  this  conviction. 

I  have  great  honor  in  presenting  to 
you,  the  Earl  of  Reading. 

Lord  Reading's  address  was  as  follows : 

It  is  indeed  a  graceful  act  to  have  af- 
forded the  opportunity  to  the  British 
Ambassador  to  the  United  States  to  ex- 
press the  tribute  of  respect,  admiration, 
and  affection  that  the  British  people  feel 
for  Walter  Hines  Page. 

To-day  I  speak  to  you  as  British  Am- 
bassador, by  special  command  of  His 
Majesty,  the  King;  by  the  request  of 
the  Government;  and  at  the  earnest 
desire  of  the  British  people.  The  Gov- 
ernment and  people  speak  with  one 
voice  when  they  speak  of  Doctor  Page. 
I  noted  that  Doctor  Alderman  referred 
to  his  last  meeting  with  Doctor  Page  in 


WALTER  HINES  PAGE        27 

October,  1914.  With  us  in  England, 
knowledge  of  Doctor  Page  may  almost 
be  said  to  have  begun  when  he  first  came 
to  our  country  as  the  accredited  repre- 
sentative of  the  United  States  to  our 
Nation.  He  came  as  an  interpreter  of 
the  thoughts  and  the  sentiments  of 
America  to  Britain.  Pie  was  with  us 
a  little  over  a  year  before  the  great  war 
began.  During  this  early  period  we 
learned  to  know  more  of  him  perhaps 
than  is  usually  learned  in  so  short  a 
time.  He  made  himself  acquainted, 
and  indeed,  had  become  on  friendly 
terms  with  all  of  our  leading  Statesmen, 
men  of  letters,  men  engaged  in  Art, 
Science,  and  indeed  in  all  professions 
and  one  might  say,  all  avocations  of  life. 
WTien  the  war  came  in  1 914,  he  was  in 
a  difficult  and  a  very  responsible  position. 
Those  of  us  who  were  in  my  country 
during  that  period,  will  recall  the  many 


28       MEMORIAL  MEETING 

difficult,  anxious,  contentious  questions 
that  arose  during  the  early  part  of  the 
war.  It  was  not  vouchsafed  to  him  to 
express,  in  public,  his  thoughts  upon 
the  war  which  had  started.  He  rep- 
resented his  country  and  observed 
throughout  that  strict  neutrality  which 
of  course  became  his  duty.  He  was  a 
true  American;  never  for  one  moment 
during  the  whole  period  of  that  neu- 
trality did  he  forget  that  he  represented 
a  neutral  administration;  but,  neverthe- 
less, he  did  conduct  the  affairs  of  his 
country  with  our  authorities  in  England 
so  as  to  smooth  away  difficulties,  to 
remain  on  the  friendliest  terms,  and  to 
convince  us  of  sympathy  notwithstand- 
ing that  it  was  his  duty  to  insist  and 
most  strenuously  to  insist  upon  the  point 
of  view  of  his  Government. 

I  doubt  very  much  whether  we  have 
ever  brought  home  to  you,  or  whether 


WALTER  HINES  PAGE        29 

any  words  that  I  could  use  would  con- 
vey to  you  the  deep  debt  of  gratitude 
that  we  British  people  feel  for  the  work 
of  Doctor  Page,  during  that  period  of  the 
war.  It  was  his  counsel,  it  was  his  acts, 
it  was  generally  his  thought  that  helped 
always  to  clear  away  some  of  the  com- 
plexities that  were  constantly  arising. 

In  private  life,  he  was  far  too  out- 
spoken a  man  (candor  was  part  and 
parcel  of  him)  to  conceal  from  those  who 
had  the  high  privilege  of  intimate  inter- 
course with  him,  that  the  whole  soul  of 
the  man  was  centred  in  the  victory  of 
the  Allied  cause.  He  never  allowed  that 
sympathy  to  interfere  with  his  duty; 
but  almost  the  crowning  moment  of  his 
life,  I  should  think,  was  when  America 
entered  the  war — ^when  the  restraints 
were  removed  from  him;  when  he  could 
speak  his  thoughts;  when  he  could  give 
public  utterance  to  them;  when  he  could 


30       MEMORIAL  MEETING 

aid  by  his  public  efforts,  in  the  work 
for  the  x\Uied  cause. 

During  all  this  time,  he  had  been  gain- 
ing the  affections  of  our  people  increas- 
ingly, as  time  progressed.  After  Amer- 
ica had  entered  the  war;  when  he  threw 
himself  so  whole-heartedly  into  our 
life  in  England;  when  with  the  joy  of 
the  removal  of  the  restraint  that  had 
cabined  and  confined  him  for  so  long, 
he  was  able  to  lend  his  energies,  his  ac- 
tivities and  the  value  of  his  judgment  to 
the  common  work  in  which  we  were  en- 
gaged, he  vowed  to  us  that  he  was  only 
a  worker  in  the  democracy  of  the  Eng- 
lish speaking  nations.  He  longed  to 
take  his  part  as  a  soldier  in  the  field  of 
battle,  fighting  for  right,  for  justice, 
for  liberty,  for  that  democracy  he  loved. 

I  could  not  use  language  which  could 
properly  be  described  as  exaggerated 
when  I  speak  of  the  impression  that  he 


WALTER  HINES  PAGE        31 

made  upon  us  in  England.  There  will 
be  a  golden  chapter  in  the  history  of 
England  entitled  '' Walter  Hines  Page." 
There  will  be  another  in  the  history  of 
Anglo-American  cooperation  for  the  jus- 
tice and  liberty  of  the  world. 

He  had  an  unfaltering  faith  in  the 
victory  of  our  cause.  Whatever  the 
difficulties  were,  he  never  allowed  the 
light  to  be  obscured.  He  had  a  singu- 
larly original  mind.  He  had  a  specially 
outspoken  way  of  expressing  himself. 
His  thoughts  were  lofty;  his  language 
was  distinguished.  His  ideals  were  no- 
ble and  he  never  was  weary  of  devoting 
himself  to  carrying  them  into  practical 
realization. 

I  will  now  speak  to  you,  the  names  of 
the  great  men  of  my  country  who  have 
been  associated  with  him  and  who 
would  love  to  be  associated  at  this  mo- 
ment as  I  am,  speaking  I  think  just  for 


32        MEMORIAL  MEETING 

one  moment  only — those  with  whom  he 
served  during  the  earUer  days  of  the 
war,  when  Mr.  Asquith  was  Prime  Min- 
ister and  Sir  Edward  Grey  was  Foreign 
Secretary;  and  of  the  later  days,  when 
Mr.  Lloyd  George  was  Prime  Minister 
and  Mr.  Balfour  the  Foreign  Secretary; 
of  Lord  Crew  at  one  time  handling  the 
affairs  of  the  Foreign  Office;  of  Lord 
Curzon  who  has  done  the  same  in  later 
time.  I  speak  of  these  politicians — 
men  who  played  a  great  part  during  the 
war,  only  for  the  purpose  of  giving  ut- 
terance for  them,  through  the  tribute 
of  admiration  and  of  love  for  the  man. 
His  work  throughout  the  latter  period 
of  his  life  was  avowedly  given  to  making 
these  great  English  speaking  peoples 
better  acquainted  with  each  other. 

I  recall  as  I  address  you,  a  speech  he 
made  in  the  House  of  Commons,  if  my 
memory  serves  me  aright,  at  the  end  of 


WALTER  HINES  PAGE        33 

191 7,  when  he  said  that  he  would  devote 
the  remaining  years  of  his  Hfe  to  bring- 
ing about  a  more  fundamental  and 
lasting  acquaintance  and  friendship  be- 
tween our  two  countries.  He  has  in- 
deed done  noble  work  in  that  direction. 

He  labored  so  hard  that  he  strained 
his  physical  capacities  to  the  uttermost, 
as  some  of  us  who  had  the  advantage  of 
seeing  him  often,  realize.  He  did  it,  I 
beheve,  knowingly.  He  refused  to  spare 
himself  because  he  was  determined  that 
all  that  there  was  in  him  should  be 
given  to  the  cause  of  the  country  he 
represented  in  such  grave  and  anxious 
times,  and  that  it  should  be  devoted  also 
to  that  other  nation  where  he  was  then 
residing,  so  closely  associated  with 
America. 

To  all  those  who  were  engaged  in  the 
common  cause,  those  labors  of  his 
have  borne  fruit,  and  I  believe  will  bear 


34       MEMORIAL  MEETING 

even  richer  fruit  in  the  future.  His 
memory  will  ever  be  recalled  with  rever- 
ence; remembered  with  the  Anglo- 
American  relations  during  the  last  few 
eventful  years.  To  all  who  studied 
what  has  happened  during  the  great  war, 
it  will  ever  be  kept  alive  by  devotion 
and  loyalty  to  the  great  ideals  which 
Walter  Hines  Page  always  set  to  liimself, 
and  of  which  he  was  never  tired  of  speak- 
ing to  us  in  England. 

He  came  to  us  comparatively  un- 
known. He  left  us,  so  shortly  before 
his  death,  with  a  name  renowned  and 
revered  by  all  those  who  had  learned 
to  know  him,  and  that  w^as  by  all  the 
English  speaking  peoples  of  the  world. 
He  was  beloved  by  all  who  had  the  hon- 
or of  intimacy  or  private  intercourse 
with  him — they  who  had  garnered  some 
of  the  rich  harvest  of  the  beautiful 
thoughts    to    which    he    so    constantly 


WALTER  HINES  PAGE        35 

gave  utterance,  and  he  will  ever  remain 
with  us,  among  the  most  distinguished 
of  the  distinguished  representatives  you 
have  sent  to  our  country. 

We  of  Great  Britain,  and  of  that  ag- 
gregation of  British  nations  known  as 
the  British  Empire,  will  always  love 
and  revere  the  memory  and  the  works 
of  Walter  Hines  Page. 


HON.  WILLIAM  G.  McADOO^S 
ADDRESS 


H 


ON.  WILLIAM  G.  McADOO 

was  introduced  in  the  following 
words  by  Doctor  Alderman: 


I  am  glad  that  these  exercises  go 
forward  in  the  presence  of  the  acting 
head  of  the  State  Department,  Mr. 
Frank  Polk,  under  which  Walter  Page 
did  his  work,  and  of  former  Secretary 
of  the  Treasury,  Mr.  William  G. 
McAdoo  who  was  the  friend  of  Mr. 
Page,  and  his  government  colleague. 

I  have  the  honor  and  the  very  great 
pleasure  to  present  Secretary  McAdoo. 

Responding    to    Doctor    Alderman's 
36 


WALTER  HINES  PAGE       37 

introduction  Mr.  McAdoo  delivered  the 
following  address : 

It  is  a  genuine  privilege  to  join  the 
friends  of  Walter  Hines  Page  in  this 
tribute  to  his  memory,  evidencing  as  it 
does  the  affection  and  respect  in  which 
his  friends  and  his  countrymen  held 
him. 

It  would  be  impossible  for  me  to  con- 
tribute anything  to  the  eloquent  ad- 
dresses which  have  been  made  by  Doctor 
Alderman  and  by  His  Excellency,  the 
British  Ambassador,  and  I  shall  not 
attempt  therefore  to  speak  at  any  great 
length  about  our  distinguished  friend, 
but  merely  to  recall  a  few  incidents  in 
his  Hfe  which  are  not  known  to  the 
public. 

I  had  known  Mr.  Page  somewhat  casu- 
ally before  the  year  191 1,  but  in  1911 
I  became  intimately   acquainted    with 


SS       MEMORIAL  MEETING 

him.  We  were  brought  together  by  a 
sort  of  mutual  attraction — growing  out 
of  a  community  of  ideas  or  identity  of 
purpose. 

Doctor  Alderman  described  Mr.  Page 
very  accurately  when  he  said  that  he 
was  essentially  a  democrat  and  that 
he  was  intelligently  a  radical.  It  was 
for  those  reasons  no  doubt  that  Mr. 
Page  threw  himself  with  such  fervor 
into  the  effort  to  have  nominated  for  the 
presidency  of  the  United  States,  the 
man  who  represented  not  only  the  prin- 
ciples for  which  he  stood  and  in  which 
he  believed  with  such  ardor,  but  the 
ideals  which  Mr.  Page  so  fervently 
cherished.  And  as  I,  myself,  was  very 
much  interested  in  effectuating  the  same 
object,  we  found  ourselves  in  complete 
sympathy  with  each  other,  and  became 
earnest  companions  in  an  effort  at 
political  cooperation  in  a  field  which  was 


WALTER  HINES  PAGE        39 

entirely  new  to  each  of  us,  and  which  we 
entered  with  the  daring  and  enthusiasm 
of  the  innocents.  We  used  to  meet 
about  once  a  week  at  a  small  ofhce  down 
tow^n  to  consider  the  best  means  of 
furthering  the  interests  of  our  ideal  can- 
didate for  the  presidency.  As  we  pro- 
ceeded, I  was  struck  with  the  incisive- 
ness  of  Air.  Page's  mind;  with  the  deep 
and  abiding  faith  he  had  in  his  country 
and  in  the  principles  of  democracy; 
with  the  loyalty  and  devotion  of  his 
friendships  and  of  the  sincerity  and 
depth  of  his  feelings  and  convictions. 
We  were  associated  together  in  the  pre- 
liminary work  which  led  up  to  the  Balti- 
more Convention  in  191 2,  and  we  had 
the  pleasure  of  meeting  after  that  con- 
vention and  of  feUcitating  each  other 
not  so  much  upon  the  work  we  had 
done — a  work  to  which  we  hoped  that 
we    had    contributed    something — but 


40       MEMORIAL  MEETING 

upon  the  happy  fruition  of  our  great 
adventure,  the  nomination  for  the  Pres- 
idency of  Woodrow  Wilson. 

I  learned  during  that  time  to  know 
him  intimately  and  to  appreciate  him 
deeply.  Then  was  formed  the  sincere 
and  ardent  friendship  which  has  abided 
ever  since;  and  when  the  time  came  to 
consider  an  Ambassador  to  the  Court 
of  St.  James's,  I  found  myself,  wholly 
unexpectedly,  occupying  a  Cabinet  po- 
sition in  Washington,  where  it  became 
my  privilege  to  discuss  the  appointment 
with  the  President  and  the  Secretary 
of  State  and  to  suggest  my  friend,  Walter 
Hines  Page  as  the  man  who  should  be 
chosen  for  that  great  post. 

It  was  not  anticipated  at  that  time, 
of  course,  that  such  a  calamity  as  the 
Great  War  would  overtake  the  world, 
and  yet  we  all  realized  how  essential  it 
was  that  a  man  should  be  chosen  to  rep- 


WALTER  MINES  PAGE        41 

resent  America  at  the  Court  of  St. 
James's,  who  not  only  represented  the 
ideals  of  democracy  but  who  also  had 
the  intellectual  force,  the  high  purpose, 
and  the  patriotism  which  would  enable 
him  to  uphold  the  best  traditions  of  that 
great  and  honorable  post — a  post 
which  had  been  filled  by  some  of  the 
most  eminent  men  in  American  history, 
and  it  was  with  the  greatest  pleasure 
that  I  urged  as  the  man  best  fitted, 
of  all  those  with  whom  I  was  acquainted, 
Walter  Hines  Page,  for  that  distin- 
guished honor. 

I  remember  that  I  feared,  as  I  thought 
about  it  at  the  time,  that  his  somewhat 
abrupt  manner — due  to  the  great  sin- 
cerity and  fervor  of  his  views,  which 
Doctor  Alderman  has  so  happily  de- 
scribed as  '^ explosive"- — might  perhaps 
be  a  bit  foreign  to  the  ways  of  diplomacy, 
and  yet,  even  at  that  time,  I  think  it 


42        MEMORI.\L  MEETING 

was  rather  vaguely  in  the  minds  and 
consciousness  of  the  people  that  the 
days  of  secret  and  circuitous  diplomacy 
were  on  the  wane  and  that  the  direct 
diplomacy,  the  open  diplomacy,  the 
diplomac}'  of  sincerity  and  of  honesty 
and  candor  were  about  to  be  ushered 
in.  As  I  reflected  upon  that,  I  could 
not  but  believe  that  the  selection  of  Mr. 
Page  for  this  great  ofhce  was  singularly 
appropriate,  and  that  it  gave  promise 
of  an  adventure  in  diplomacy  which 
might  perhaps  produce  wonderful  re- 
sults in  the  progress  of  the  world. 

It  was  not  my  good  fortune  to  see 
much  of  him  after  he  left  for  London. 
Those  were  busy  days  in  Washington, 
even  before  the  war  broke  out,  and,  after 
hostilities  began,  the  occasional  letters 
which  I  had  from  him  grew  less  and  less 
frequent,  and  I  found  myself  less  and 
less  able  to  keep  up  the  correspondence. 


WALTER  HINES  PAGE        43 

Doctor  Alderman  has  most  happily 
and  fittingly  described  the  wonderful 
charm  of  Walter  Hines  Page's  letters. 
I  believe  with  him,  that  Mr.  Page  will 
be  accorded,  if  his  letters  are  ever  pub- 
lished— as  I  hope  they  may  be — the  dis- 
tinction of  having  been  one  of  the 
most  scholarly  and  delightful  corres- 
pondents of  modern  times. 

As  the  ^var  progressed  I  detected  in 
his  letters  a  note  of  poignant  feeling 
for  the  misery^  and  suffering  which  the 
war  had  produced.  It  was  the  very 
natural  expression  of  Mr.  Page,  because 
he  had  that  warmth  of  heart,  that  broad 
humanity,  that  great  love  for  his  fellow 
men,  which  made  him  peculiarly  sus- 
ceptible to  human  suffering.  But  never, 
in  his  letters,  was  there  a  note  of  com- 
plaint, no  matter  what  the  difficulties 
were.  They  were  filled  with  an  increas- 
ing fervor  and   reverence   and   a   firm 


44       MEMORIAL  MEETING 

determination  to  meet  the  difficulties 
which  confronted  his  country  in  the  ex- 
tremely delicate  situation  which  her  po- 
sition as  a  great  neutral  made  inevitable ; 
but  always  there  was  the  expression  of  a 
hope  that  some  day  America  would 
come  into  the  war  as  a  belligerent  and 
join  with  the  Allies  in  vindicating  the 
principles  of  justice  and  liberty  for 
which  they  were  fighting. 

He  lived,  I  am  glad  to  say,  to  see  the 
realization  of  his  hopes.  He  lived  to 
see  the  Allies  victorious  and  to  see  his 
country  crowned  with  glory ;  and  while  I 
never  had  the  pleasure  of  seeing  him 
again,  I  knew  the  grateful  emotions 
with  which  he  viewed  that  wonderful 
consummation  of  all  that  he  most 
hoped  for. 

Walter  Hines  Page  stood  by  his  post 
with  the  fervor  of  true  patriotism, 
stricken  in  health,  and  knowing,  I  am 


WALTER  HINES  PAGE        45 

sure,  that  to  continue  in  London  prob- 
ably meant  the  last  great  sacrifice  for 
him.  He  faced  it,  nevertheless,  with 
the  courage  and  determination  of  a 
true  soldier;  and  he  was  a  participant 
in,  as  well  as  a  contributor  to,  the  vic- 
tory which  his  country  had  such  a  noble 
part  in  winning. 

He  has  made  a  shining  page  in  the 
history  of  America,  and  all  Americans 
will  do  him  honor. 


DR.  LYMAN  ABBOTT'S 
ADDRESS 

DR.  LYMAN  ABBOTT  was  intro- 
duced by  Doctor  Alderman,  who 
presented  him  in  the  following 
words : 

It  is  fitting  that  these  exercises  should 
close  with  a  brief  address  on  the  moral 
and  social  forces  of  these  times  by  one 
who  knew  Walter  Hines  Page  as  a  fel- 
low craftsman;  who  shared  with  him 
his  leaning  toward  democracy  and  who 
spurred  him  on  by  his  own  example, 
in  the  interest  of  men  and  women  every- 
where. 

I  have  pleasure  in  presenting  Dr. 
Lyman  Abbott,  editor  of  The  Outlook. 

46 


WALTER  HINES  PAGE        47 

Doctor  Abbott,  in  response,  spoke 
as  follows : 

The  admirable  addresses  to  which  we 
have  listened  have  come  from  members 
of  the  party  of  v^hich  Mr.  Page  was  a 
member.  It  is  perhaps  fitting  that  a 
word  should  be  added  to  those  tributes 
by  one  who  has  been  all  his  life  a  demo- 
crat but  never  a  member  of  the  Demo- 
cratic party — a  life-long  Independent 
wdth  Republican  prejudices.  I  am  glad 
to  speak  for  those  outside  of  all  party 
relations,  representing  this  common  tes- 
timony to  a  great  service  by  a  great 
man. 

It  is  singular,  is  it  not,  that  we  find 
it  so  difficult  to  get  the  men  we  want 
for  public  service,  and  yet,  we  do  not 
give  to  them  the  rewards  for  which  we 
all  of  us  are  working.  For  most  of  us 
at  least,  work  for  some  kind  of  reward — 


48        MEMORIAL  MEETING 

money — fame — the  joy  of  working.  And 
all  three  of  these  are  denied  to  our 
public  men.  We  pay  them  less  than 
private  enterprise  pays  them.  The  mo- 
ment a  man  rises  to  any  high  position, 
the  newspapers  criticize  him,  which  is 
right — rob  him  of  character,  which  is 
wrong.  And  as  for  the  joy  of  working, 
our  American  Nation  has  adopted  a 
policy  of  checks  and  balances  which 
hampers  and  hinders  the  honest  public 
servant  and  makes  him  feel  that  he  is 
always  subject  to  suspicion.  And  yet  it 
is  the  glory  of  Democracy  that,  in  spite 
of  this,  it  finds  noble  men  to  serve  it. 
For  my  part,  I  do  not  hesitate,  looking 
over  the  history  of  the  recent  past,  to 
put,  on  one  side,  the  history  of  Europe 
and,  on  the  other  side,  the  history  of  our 
country  during  the  same  time;  the  his- 
tory of  America  does  not  suffer  in  the 
comparison.     I  am  willing — are  we  not 


WALTER  HINES  PAGE        49 

all  of  us  willing — to  put  Abraham  Lin- 
coln and  Gladstone  side  by  side;  to 
put  Chief  Justice  Marshall  and  Lord 
Mansfield  side  by  side;  and  to  put  the 
ambassadors  who  have  served  us  abroad 
in  critical  times  by  the  side  of  the  am- 
bassadors of  any  other  country.  Where 
shall  we  find  names  more  worthy  of  the 
world's  reverence  than  the  names  of 
Benjamin  Franklin  who  served  us  in 
the  Revolutionary  period;  John  Bige- 
low  and  Charles  Francis  Adams  who 
served  us  in  the  time  of  the  Civil  War; 
John  Hay  and  Andrew  D.  White  who 
served  us  in  the  time  of  the  Spanish- 
American  War;  or  Mr.  Herrick  and 
Walter  Hines  Page  who  served  us  in 
the  time  of  the  Great  World  War. 

Every  now  and  then,  I  come  across  a 
man,  sometimes  in  the  spoken  conversa- 
tion, sometimes  in  the  printed  page, 
who    thinks    ambassadors    are    rather 


50       MEMORIAL  MEETING 

ornamental  appendages  to  the  country; 
that  they  are  no  longer  necessar}-;  that 
they  are  not  much  needed.  They  dress 
well;  they  eat  well;  they  give  good 
food  to  other  people ;  and  they  are  pleas- 
ant companions  and  sometimes  useful 
to  inexperienced,  perplexed,  or  impecu- 
nious travelers. 

Do  we  realize  what  an  ambassador 
really  is?  Do  we  realize  what  it  means 
for  us  to  have  a  true  representative  of 
America  in  a  foreign  country;  what  it 
means  to  have  such  a  representative 
in  England?  Lord  Reading,  I  am  sure, 
will  pardon  me  if  I  say  that  a  great 
many  English  readers  have  gotten  their 
notion  of  what  an  American  is  from  the 
pictures  in  Punch;  from  the  caricatures 
in  Martin  Chuzzlewit;  from  the  pen 
portrait  of  the  American,  drawn  by 
Kiphng;  from  the  Yankee  on  the  stage; 
and  from  the  American  travelers  whom 


W.\LrER  HINES  PAGE        51 

they  have  met  sometimes  in  Oxford 
Street  and  sometimes  in  the  cheaper 
boarding  houses.  Do  we  reaHze  what 
it  is  to  have  a  cultivated  gentleman,  a 
scholar,  reverenced,  as  Lord  Reading 
has  told  us  Mr.  Page  was  reverenced  in 
England,  holding  himself  in  close  re- 
straint, as  Lord  Reading  has  told  us  he 
did  hold  himself  while  he  was  repre- 
senting a  neutral  country;  and  who 
poured  out  his  enthusiasm  for  liberty 
and  justice  when  he  had  permission  to 
express  himself.  Do  we  know  what  it 
is  to  have  such  a  man  standing  for  us  in 
the  country  of  our  kinsfolk? 

The  successful  ambassador  must  have 
certain  contradictory  qualities.  He 
must  be  a  thorough-going  American 
and  yet  he  must  be  an  InternationaHst. 
He  must  be  an  aristocrat,  and  yet  a 
democrat;  he  must  be  a  man  of  tact; 
and  he  must  be  a  man  of  force.     Walter 


52        MEMORIAL  MEETING 

Page  was  all  of  these  six  men  in  one. 
He  was  a  native  American — thoroughly 
American.  Born  in  the  South;  edu- 
cated in  Baltimore,  midway  between 
the  South  and  the  North;  taking  what 
I  may  call  his  post  graduate  course  in 
journalism  in  the  Middle  West  and  in 
New  England.  He  knew  every  part  of 
America  and  understood  it.  America 
was  in  ever}^  drop  of  his  blood  and  in 
every  tingling  nerve  of  his  body.  He 
was  an  American,  fired  with  the  enthu- 
siasm of  the  American  spirit.  And  yet 
he  was  also  an  Internationalist.  He  was 
an  American  but  not  a  provincial  Amer- 
ican. Our  ambassador  must  represent 
his  own  country  abroad.  And  he  must 
not  only  know  the  language,  but  the 
life  of  the  people,  that  he  may  interpret 
America  to  the  people.  Very  shortly 
after  he  went  over,  provincial  Ameri- 
cans cried  out  with  indignation  against 


W.\LTER  HINES  PAGE        53 

him  because  he  was  reported  as  saying 
that  we  were  ruled  by  English  ideas 
and  led  by  English  ideas.  And  yet, 
is  it  not  true  that  the  great  fundamental 
ideas  of  justice  and  law  and  order  on 
which  the  British  Empire  has  been  built, 
rule  in  America?  I  hope  it  is.  And  is 
it  not  true  that  the  men  who  have  fought 
the  battles  out  of  which  our  own  liber- 
ties have  grown,  have  fought  them  on 
English  soil  and  so  by  the  happy  acci- 
dent of  having  been  born  before  us, 
have  been  our  leaders? 

He  was  both  an  aristocrat  and  a  dem- 
ocrat! What  it  is  to  have  a  country 
governed  by  what  we  are  apt  to  call 
the  best  citizens — by  which  we  generally 
mean  the  worthiest,  the  most  powerful, 
the  highest  bred  or  the  best  educated; 
what  it  is  to  have  a  country  governed 
by  those  without  any  sympathy  with  or 
understanding    for    the    plain    people. 


54       MEMORIAL  MEETING 

Russia  has  shown  us  under  the  Czar; 
and  what  it  is  to  have  a  country  gov- 
erned by  proletarians  without  any  sym- 
pathy for  the  rights  of  the  rich,  the 
powerful,  the  intellectual,  Russia  is 
showing  us  under  the  Bolsheviki.  God 
grant  that  we  may  learn  the  lesson  and, 
in  this  country,  reaUze  that  there  can 
be  no  peace  and  no  prosperity  unless 
capital  and  labor  work  in  unity  and 
clasp  hands  in  a  common  effort  for  a 
common  welfare. 

Mr.  Page  was  a  Siamese  twin.  He 
was  a  democrat  and  an  aristocrat.  He 
beheved  in  the  best;  not  in  the  best  class, 
but  in  the  best  in  any  class  and  in  the 
best  in  every  man  in  every  class.  He 
was  not  a  democrat  that  leveled  down; 
he  leveled  up.  He  was  a  man  of  cul- 
ture, what  culture  President  Alderman 
has  already  intimated  to  us.  I  have 
had  a  fairh^  large  acquaintance  with 


Wx\I.TER  MINES  PAGE        SS 

cultured  men — college  graduates — I 
have  known  but  two  men  that  wrote 
their  private  memoranda  in  the  Greek 
language.  Mr.  Page  w^as  one  of  them. 
All  the  culture  of  the  past  he  was  fa- 
mihar  wdth;  that  splendid  past  which 
we  are  gradually  forgetting,  more  is  the 
pity.  But  with  that  culture,  there  w^ent 
a  profound  sympathy  and  a  practical 
fellowship  with  the  men  of  affairs. 

When  he  went  into  journaKsm,  it 
was  into  TJie  World^s  Work.  He  was  a 
world's  man  and  he  had  a  hearty  sym- 
pathy with  the  workers  of  the  world. 
He  believed  in  the  past;  but  he  also 
believed  in  the  future  and  in  the  prog- 
ress of  the  past  into  the  future.  It 
was  characteristic  of  him  to  entitle 
one  department  in  his  review  ^'The 
March  of  Events." 

He  died  for  his  country  as  truly  as 
any  soldier  whose  body  lies  under  the 


56        MEMORIAL  MEETING 

sod  of  France.  He  laid  down  his  life 
for  his  fellow  men.  Do  you  remember 
what  John  says:  ^'Christ  laid  down  His 
life  for  us  and  we  ought  to  lay  down 
our  lives  for  our  brothers."  I  do  not 
know  what  his  church  was.  I  do  not 
know  whether  he  belonged  to  any 
church.  But  I  do  know  he  followed 
Christ  to  the  uttermost,  for  he  laid 
down  his  life  for  his  fellow  men. 

We  have  no  war  cross  we  can  give 
him.  We  have  no  title  we  can  give  him. 
How  shall  we  honor  him?  How  but 
by  following  his  example  and  by  de- 
manding of  our  country  that  it  honor 
the  men  who  are  continuing  the  work 
he  did  for  us.  This  is  the  honor  we 
desire  to  pay  to  him.  This  is  the 
crown  we  desire  to  put  upon  his  head: 
the  crown  of  service,  by  continuing 
for  our  country  by  our  lives,  the  spirit 
of  his  consecrated  sacrifice. 


